It is my view that the current global pandemic should have been used by a lot agencies to press the reset button in T&T.
Instead we did not see the opportunity that situation this presented to us.
The Minister of National Security and the Police Commissioner could have used this time to get to the “hot spots” in the country and root out all these “known” drug dealers and people involved in illegal activity. They claim that they are aware of the “porous border” in the southern coast. So why is it that extra resources are not being deployed on the ground and ocean along this coast?
If we don’t have the capability I am quite sure that the US Southern Command would welcome a request for assistance along that coast to mitigate the flow of drugs, weapons, animals and people across our border.
It is claimed that the Public Service has the “largest workforce” in the country, so why is it in 2020 T&T nationals suffer months to renew a passport or get an ID card? This is a country of only 1.4 million people and it takes an unusual amount of time to get simple things done. Is this acceptable in 2020? Why are we unable to utilise the internet to get things done? This pandemic highlighted the fact that the public service is chronically overstaffed, terribly inefficient, and in urgent need of reform.
The government of T&T missed the opportunity to meaningfully reform this country and begin moving us into 2020 from the 1960’s where we seem to have been stuck.
Unfortunately, throughout our evolution as a country we have lacked real leadership and patriotism. This pandemic should have highlighted the fact that we missed the boat yet again.
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